The U.S. think tank Washington Institute released an interactive map showcasing Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East by detailing the whereabouts, operations and force deployments of Iran-backed militias in the region. Al Arabiya reported.

The institute said that the information and sources used to create the map was compiled mainly from primary source data, including contacts within militia circles and social media analysis collected for nearly ten years.

The head of the Iran’s extra-territorial military force recently met Iraqi militias in Baghdad and told them to “prepare for proxy war”, according to a report on Friday in Britain's Guardian.

Two senior intelligence sources told the Guardian that Qassem Suleimani, leader of the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, summoned the militias under Tehran’s influence three weeks ago, amid a heightened state of tension in the region.

This year, the U.S. State Department added Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).

Around the world, people are worried about what is going to happen between the US and Iran. The Middle East has had its share of wars, like the 8-year fight between Iran and Iraq. There was also the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait between 1990 and1991, as well as the American invasion of Iraq. Iran also initiated the wars in Yemen and Syria, where millions were killed or injured.

Iran has been meddling in the affairs of other nations for years. It has been responsible for one of the most serious humanitarian crises in recent times in Yemen and it has contributed to the prolonging of a very bloody war in Syria.

The Iranian ruling theocracy has a network of proxy groups and militias the whole way across the region and beyond and it has been involved in countless terrorist attacks and assassinations of political opponents.

The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that four commercial vessels were damaged in “acts of sabotage” near the country’s territorial waters.

This was confirmed by Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, who revealed at around 6 am on Sunday revealed that two Saudi oil tankers had suffered “significant damage” in the area just 85 miles south of the strategic Strait of Hormuz shipping route, where a fifth of the world’s total oil passes through.